Biography

Dr. Anand Kumar is an associate professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. A pediatric plastic and craniofacial surgeon and basic science researcher, he conducts investigation into the cellular biology of muscle-derived progenitor cells as a source of pathologic heterotopic ossification and for novel regenerative medicine applications.

Dr. Kumar leads the craniobiology research team with a keen interest in muscle derived progenitor cell biology. Using in vitro, organotypic and in vivo murine bone defect models, his team studies cell migration, cell survival and fate tracking and osteogenic differentiation using fluorescent protein expressing cells, confocal cell imaging technology, and hypothesis neutral RNA-seq studies. The craniobiology research team is poised to unlock the osteogenic potential of these unique cells to heal critical bone defects of the craniofacial skeleton. His team's novel study has been recognized and supported by the Plastic Surgery Research Foundation, the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons and the Johns Hopkins Military & Veterans Institute.

As an honor student in the biological sciences at the University of California, Irvine, Dr. Kumar received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his general surgery residency at the Mayo Clinic Rochester and later completed a second residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He subsequently completed a pediatric plastic/craniofacial surgery fellowship after his residency at UCLA.

In 2004, prior to his academic appointment, Dr. Kumar volunteered for military service and joined the United States Navy until 2010. In Bethesda, Maryland, he served as director and staff pediatric plastic surgeon of the Military Craniofacial Unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He served as division chief in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda and on board the United States Naval Support Hospital Ship Comfort. In 2010, Dr. Kumar was recruited to the University of Pittsburgh as the director of facial skeletal surgery until 2013 when he was recruited to Johns Hopkins to lead the Center for Pediatric Craniofacial Surgery.

Certifications

Research Summary

The focus of Dr. Kumar’s research includes evaluating cranial bone regeneration in both adult and pediatric patients and muscle-derived ossification conditions in children and adults. In addition, grants from the Plastic Surgery Research Foundation and the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons have allowed him to study heterotopic ossification in combat-related injuries and the use of harvested cells to regenerate muscle or bone in patients.

Technology Expertise:
RNA-seq, rtPCR

Lab:

Dr. Kumar leads the Craniofacial Bone Biology Laboratory at the Ross Research Building of The Johns Hopkins Univerisity. Our team is dedicated to the development of novel treatment of pathologic heterotopic bone formation and harnessing its osteogenic potential for structural bone regeneration in critical sized cranial defect models. We study muscle derived progenitor cell in both human, murine and rabbit in vitro models and in vivo murine and rabbit models. The role of bone morphogenetic proteins, inflammatory cytokines, and mechanical-transduction forces are central to our investigative methods.